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Report: Favorite Emerges for Penguins Next Coach

The Pittsburgh Penguins may have their replacement for Mike Sullivan.

Jon Alfano

Pittsburgh Penguins.
Pittsburgh Penguins. / © Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
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Roughly a month after moving on from Mike Sullivan, the Pittsburgh Penguins may have their new head coach in place.

While not official just yet, Cam Robinson of Elite Prospects reported Wednesday afternoon that "every team-side source I’ve spoken to this week believes Mitch Love will be the next head coach of the Penguins." Love, 40, spent the last two seasons with the Washington Capitals as an assistant under Spencer Carbery.

In that time, Love worked primarily with the Capitals' star-studded blue line. Under his leadership, defenseman Jakob Chychrun scored a career-high 47 points (20 goals, 27 assists) while quarterbacking the power play, and youngsters Rasmus Sandin and Martin Fehervary emerged as key contributors on the back end.

The Capitals earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference this season with 111 points, in large part thanks to their deep blue line.

Again, though, it seems like the job isn't Love's just yet. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported Wednesday that the Penguins are still expected to meet with DJ Smith later this week to discuss their head coaching role. Smith, 48, was the Ottawa Senators' head coach from 2019-24 and spent last season as an assistant with the Los Angeles Kings.

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman also said on this week's "32 Thoughts" podcast that former Edmonton Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft was in the running for Pittsburgh as well, though it's entirely possible the Penguins have narrowed down their options since then.

The Penguins are one of only three teams still looking for a head coach alongside the Boston Bruins and Seattle Kraken, though the former is reportedly closing in on a hire as well. As the calendar flips to June this weekend, these teams will want to have their staff in place sooner rather than later.

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Jon Alfano
JON ALFANO

Jon is a lead writer for Baltimore Ravens On SI and contributes to other sites around the network as well. The Tampa native previously worked with sites such as ClutchPoints and GiveMeSport and earned his journalism degree at the University of Central Florida.

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